10 Shameless Video Game Rip-Offs (That Were Actually Great)
5. Dead Space
Dead Space creator Glen Schofield himself has literally called the game "Resident Evil in space," and drew heavily upon the success of Resident Evil 4 when conceiving the sci-fi horror title.
Where to begin? From the limb-targeting combat to the innovative third-person camera and control scheme, and even the gnarly death animations, Dead Space lifts extremely liberally from Resident Evil 4's revolutionary horror-action design philosophy.
In a recent interview with PC Gamer, designer Ben Wanat also straight-up confessed that they actively sought to transplant Resident Evil 4's formula to a new sci-fi setting. He said:
"It's pretty obvious when you play Dead Space, to look at it and go, 'Yeah, it's almost like they decided to make Resident Evil 4 in space,' which is exactly what we were doing."
Yet Dead Space is a masterful survival horror game in its own right, deviating from Resident Evil 4's gameplay by allowing players to move and shoot at the same time, and introducing a brilliant dismemberment mechanic and innovative diegetic UI.
While Dead Space simply wouldn't exist without Resident Evil 4, it also did enough to ensure it transcended its heavy inspiration.